We Are Saving Sight

Saving Sight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to change lives by saving sight. Founded in Columbia in 1960, the organization introduced eye donation and the gift of sight to Missouri. Today, Saving Sight operates several vision health programs--including KidSight, Cornea Donation, and the Eyeglass Recycling Program--that serve more than 100,000 people worldwide with offices located throughout Missouri and central Illinois.

Our vision is to be the global partnership model for how eye banking and charitable vision services can most effectively serve people and communities.

Thanks to the support of our financial contributors, donor families, and volunteers, we are able to change lives by saving sight. Review our board of directors, leadership staff, and organizational history below, and to see where we're headed next, read our Strategic Plan Overview. You can also learn how to become part of the next 50 years of saving sight at our Volunteer page.

Board of Directors

Mr. John Bailey

Community Member

CC Lion Larry Boettcher

District 26 M-4

VCC Lion Ron Campbell

District 26 M-4

Dr. Michael Korenfeld

Community Member

Lion Allen Lohsandt

Vice President

District 26 M-5

Lion Pat Martchink

District 26 M-2

PDG Sandy McCann

District 26 M-3

Lion Dr. Cassidy Obermark, OD

Secretary

District 26 M-1

Lion Mike Oldelehr, CPA

Treasurer

District 26 M-7

PDG Stuart Payne

President

District 26 M-6

PDG John Reese

District 26 M-4

Dr. Dan Schoenleber

Community Member

Our Leaders in Changing Lives

Tony Bavuso, CEBTChief Executive Officer

Amanda Bisher, CEBTRecovery Manager
Springfield, MO

Donna Bradford, MBAChief Financial Officer

Lynn Forest-Smith, CEBTDirector of Business Development

Patrick Gore, RN, CEBTChief Business Development Officer

Erica GreenRecovery ManagerSpringfield, IL

Kathy GrayController

Michelle Haider, CQM/OEQuality Improvement Manager

Tim KnarrInformation Technology Manager

Kenny KovacsDirector of Donor Services

Annie Kuhl, MAChief Communications Officer

Tina Livesay, CEBTChief Operating Officer

Jenny McElhany, SPHRHuman Resources Manager

Pamela Simpson, CEBTDirector of Recovery Services

Michala Stoker, RN, BSNDirector of Partner Relations

Jenni Thomas, CEBTLaboratory Manager

History

More than 55 Years of Changing Lives by Saving Sight

In 1960, the Missouri Lions joined forces with the University of Missouri-Columbia to form the Lions Eye Tissue Bank. The Lions provided financial support, and the University supplied equipment, laboratory space, and staff. This allowed the "Gift of Sight" to become available in Missouri by providing the means to donate eyes, evaluate and distribute the corneas for corneal transplant surgery and utilize non-transplantable parts of donated eyes for research and medical education.

As corneal transplant surgery moved from an experimental technique in a university setting to a fairly common surgical procedure, it was recognized that a larger, "free-standing" facility was needed to serve university and private-practice surgeons alike.

The 1970s laid the groundwork for what would eventually become Saving Sight. In 1972, The Eye Research Foundation of Missouri was formalized as a publicly owned, nonprofit organization.

In that same year, the Board of Trustees of the Bethesda Eye Foundation (BEF) in Bethesda, MD agreed to name the Eye Research Foundation of Missouri as its successor and contributed $850,000 to the newly formed organization. By 1974, the Foundation began construction on its new facility in eastern Columbia, using the BEF resources, $250,000 contributed by the Missouri Lions, and six acres of land donated by Byron and Gail Keene. The organization moved to its current location and the Missouri Lions continued to support the eye banking activities while the Foundation added several programs, such as ocular research and glaucoma screening.

At the 1987 State Convention, the Missouri Lions voted to accept financial responsibility for all programs at the Eye Research Foundation, renaming it the Missouri Lions Eye Research Foundation.

The Foundation continued to grow throughout the years. St. Louis Children's Hospital and St. Louis-area Lions piloted an amblyopia screening program in 1995 that the Foundation then grew statewide. Today, that program is called KidSight, and its technicians and volunteers screen more than 40,000 Missouri children each year for amblyopia and other common causes of childhood vision loss.

In 1997, cornea donation operations expanded into central Illinois and Kansas. This prompted the creation of Heartland Lions Eye Banks, with the cooperation of the Illinois and Kansas Lions, which soon became one of the largest providers in the world of human corneas for transplantation and eye tissue for medical research. To date, Saving Sight has provided tissue for more than 40,000 cornea transplant surgeries.

In 2013, the Board of Directors passed a motion to change the name of the organization to Saving Sight. Uniting the eye bank and charitable programs under a single brand identity was a key first step in implementing the organization's strategic plan. The Saving Sight organization has undergone many transformations over the past 54 years, and under the strategic plan it will undergo many more, but the mission remains the same: we change lives by saving sight.